Friday, December 17, 2010

Gingerbread. Mmmmm. It smells so delicious from start to finish, and this recipe is easy to work with and (gasp) does not require refrigeration!

I found an "old" recipe buried in a box I had packed years ago. I am still not sure of its source, and I had to modify it from what I had written down because it was for gingerbread cake (still nom-a-licious!) not for gingerbread cookies. Well, no problem right? Just throw a little more flour in there and voila, we're good to go!

Ok, I added spices too, don't want a tasteless cookie here people! These do have the Kyle stamp of approval, as I woke him up at 4 am with some fresh cookies and coffee and he wasn't mad!

I mixed the rest of the flour in by hand(s) in the bowl. If you wanted to, I suppose you could knead it in. I didn't feel like doing that.

Turn out onto parchment or waxed paper and smash dough together nice and good a few times. Get all of those holiday frustrations out! BAM, KAPOW, POWIE! Ok, don't beat your dough too hard, but you get my drift.

I then divided mine into three balls and worked each one in my hands until it was nice and smooth.

Yay, pretty dough balls! Now we get to let it rest for a few minutes. Get your rolling pin ready. I did a University of Cookie tip and rolled mine between two sheets of parchment paper because I, well, wasn't using an actual rolling pin.

Meet my friend, Mr. Thermos:

Yes I did.

Roll them about 1/4 inch thick, cut with floured cookie cutters, and bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper for about 7-9 minutes at 350 degrees.

I let mine cool on the pans for a couple minutes, then moved to racks.